Councillors at yesterday’s meeting voted by 52 votes to 49 with 3 abstentions to support a recommendation put forward by the Liberal Democrat group to set a budget of £5425.727m for 2013/2014 with a zero increase in council tax. This will mean the Cornwall Council element of council tax for a Band D property will remain at £1,244,41. This is the third year the council has voted to freeze council tax.

The Council’s Cabinet had previously recommended a 1.97% increase in council tax (42p a week for a Band C property) to help the authority protect frontline services and prepare further significant reductions in Government funding in future years at the same time as increasing pressures on budgets. However this recommendation was not voted on during the meeting, with a majority of Members instead supporting the Liberal Democrat amendment.

The amendment will be funded by accepting the government’s council tax freeze grant of £2.44m; maintaining council tax collection rates at the current level of 97.77% and a £3.672m reduction in employee budgets* (see below) and a £400,000 reduction in the strategy, localism and communications budget.

• £175,000 to address potholes and improve maintenance budgets for children’s play equipment and green spaces across Cornwall.

• £200,000 for the Youth Service budget

• £1.200m in both 2013/14 and 2014/15 to underwrite the car parking strategy

• £1.245m in both 2013/14 and 2014/15 • Reversing the £135,000 reduction in the Members’ Community Chest

• Reinstating £200,000 to the Leader’s Contingency Budget

Labour councillor, Jude Robinson, said the Liberal Democrats had teamed up with Conservatives to impose "more cuts to services for elderly and vulnerable people".

Jude Robinson, Labour Councillor for Camborne North said: “After all the huffing and puffing of the Lib Dems in Cornwall about cuts, they went into coalition today with the right wing of the Tory party to impose cuts on services to the elderly and disabled – areas of the budget that are already stretched.

“Just as the Tory/Lib Dem coalition in Westminster slashes funding to Cornwall, the Lib Dems and Tories locally work hand in hand to make the situation worse. People on low incomes face a 25% increase in council tax with reductions in housing support. Instead of asking wealthier people to help balance the budget, the Lib Dem/Tory alliance plans mean that even those in homes worth £320,000 plus, will not pay one penny more to save services for those in need.

“This back of the envelope plan was pushed through against the clear advice of the Finance Officer. As a result, more than 100 jobs will be lost and Cornwall Council will be paying out redundancy money instead of delivering for local people in need.”

However the Lib Dems welcomed the vote.

“There is no easy option for any council at the moment,” said Cllr Ann Kerridge, Liberal Democrat Finance Spokesman. “Some of the decisions that we have had to take are very hard ones and will have an impact on our excellent staff. But we know there are savings to be made by cutting agency spend and transferring the same staff to full-time council contracts.”

“But the fundamental task for the council is to provide the best possible services for as low a tax bill as possible. We know from our discussions with residents that there is increasing concern about ever-rising council tax bills.”

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“The Liberal Democrat budget is not just about freezing bills - although that is very important,” said Cllr Alex Folkes, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat group. “We recognise that the public also want to see lower parking charges and repairs to our crumbling road surfaces. They want to see more done to tackle anti-social behaviour and they want to see our beaches and verges cleaned up. This budget - proposed by the Liberal Democrats - does just that.”

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Comments (4)

Well at the end of the day I expect the result will be the same as ever, the poor will get poorer.

Well at the end of the day I expect the result will be the same as ever, the poor will get poorer.Gillian Zella Martin 09

Well at the end of the day I expect the result will be the same as ever, the poor will get poorer.

Score: 0

Lord Barrington Forbes-Smythe says...3:45pm Tue 26 Feb 13

Why so cynical Gill? What with the recently announced water subsidy and now this, local residents will soon be raking it in and social deprivation should soon be reversed. We'll all be living like Caroline Quentin's pals soon!

Why so cynical Gill? What with the recently announced water subsidy and now this, local residents will soon be raking it in and social deprivation should soon be reversed.
We'll all be living like Caroline Quentin's pals soon!Lord Barrington Forbes-Smythe

Why so cynical Gill? What with the recently announced water subsidy and now this, local residents will soon be raking it in and social deprivation should soon be reversed. We'll all be living like Caroline Quentin's pals soon!

Score: 0

Gillian Zella Martin 09 says...8:56pm Tue 26 Feb 13

So they have voted to freeze the council tax, that's a good election winner, what happens next year though when they want to increase it by over 5% they have a referendum and the end result is that the poor still get poorer.

So they have voted to freeze the council tax, that's a good election winner, what happens next year though when they want to increase it by over 5% they have a referendum and the end result is that the poor still get poorer.Gillian Zella Martin 09

So they have voted to freeze the council tax, that's a good election winner, what happens next year though when they want to increase it by over 5% they have a referendum and the end result is that the poor still get poorer.

Score: 0

ronedgcumbe says...12:49pm Wed 27 Feb 13

So it seems its once the poor that gets the blame. I do worry about the cuts to the social care budget as cuts to these services have a devastating effect for those effected. Once again the condems attack those least able to pay. I think council under estimate how hard it will be to collect money from the poor folk on means tested benefit. To state that collection rates will remain the same shows a certain out of touch mentality with this whole proposal.

So it seems its once the poor that gets the blame. I do worry about the cuts to the social care budget as cuts to these services have a devastating effect for those effected.
Once again the condems attack those least able to pay.
I think council under estimate how hard it will be to collect money from the poor folk on means tested benefit. To state that collection rates will remain the same shows a certain out of touch mentality with this whole proposal.ronedgcumbe

So it seems its once the poor that gets the blame. I do worry about the cuts to the social care budget as cuts to these services have a devastating effect for those effected. Once again the condems attack those least able to pay. I think council under estimate how hard it will be to collect money from the poor folk on means tested benefit. To state that collection rates will remain the same shows a certain out of touch mentality with this whole proposal.

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